Google’s Netflix-Chromecast Deal Is Over

Google is no longer offering three months of Netflix streaming free with the purchase of Chromecast. Bummer for all of those eventual buyers who hemmed and hawed for a day.

Associated Press

The new, two-inch Google Chromecast device costs $35.

Chromecast, unveiled earlier this week, is Google’s latest effort to carve out a spot in the living room. The $35 dongle connects mobile devices to televisions, allowing users to stream video and mirror Chrome web pages on their TV. It competes with Apple’s Airplay and Microsoft’s Xbox, among others, in a race to bring the web to the bigger screens.

It didn’t take long for people to work out the math. The Chromecast was already inexpensive at $35, but if you throw in the value of the Netflix deal, the price was down to $11. And the deal was open to existing Netflix customers.

The Los Angeles Times reported Thursday night that Google ended the deal, which was in limited supply, because of overwhelming demand. Anyone who purchased Chromecast before the deal ran out can still redeem their Netflix promotion codes, Google clarified. Amazon’s product page said it would honor the deal for anyone who purchased Chromecast before the quite-specific time of 8:31 p.m. ET on July 24, TechCrunch said.

Basically, Google had purchased fixed number of subscriptions and they ran out, All Things D says. Will that damp demand for the Chromecast now? ATD’s Peter Kafka says likely not, given the device is still pretty cheap.